Aug 12 2012:
I built an Eco friendly modern house that needs no artificial illumination during all day. Minimal air conditioning and is cool in summer and warm in winters. I have based the concept on the termites logic of thermal differential. Saved millions in cost of construction and spend a pittance in electricity bills. In the adjecent open spaces i replaced the cosmetic hybrid trees planted by the government with fruit trees. Now there are birds, bees and a lot do natural activity. No one wants to copy my idea for free nor collaborate. I have surplus fruit, gooseberry 70 kg, grapes 100 kg. Guava we manage to eat the whole produce and about 20 kg of mangoes. Seeking ideas of how to continue without encouragement and a society quite per-occupied with commerce at my end. Nature is very generous and giving... A lesson very evident from my experience... But gets lonely walking the right path all alone.

Aug 24 2012:
May I suggest leading by example, your home or talk to your landlord? After showing your commitment by starting at home, then help spread the idea by public face book post and twitter. I am going to spread this idea to the owner of a landscape company I know, and I will post to a former PTA mom that is now on the school board. You may know more people then you think. -Bruce

Aug 16 2012:
Derek,when my kids were little, i planted stuff they could eat in my yard. I refused to have anything with thorns (except one small area with roses along a fence) and I just realized that kids who were so absorbed in play had no time to come in for food. I planted strawberries, rhubarb, and edible veggies. Kids are so GREAT. In the first years of raspberry plants you are not supposed to pick the fruit (or at least that is my belief) so I asked my boys to leave them alone and if their tiny sister ate the berries to let her have them. They really did so. it is a lovely memory of their sweetness. I hope their lives and the women in them reward them for such goodness.

Aug 16 2012:
Hello Debra! My mom also inspired me to be immersed in nature and love nature! I think I learned a lot of skills by helping her garden when I was younger. I miss those days, but I am slowly transcending my knowledge into the forefront of my life once again, eventually. =)

Aug 14 2012:
Looks like the Del Aire Park coummunity orchard thing is an ongoing project idea, am not personally involved with this as I live the other side of the Atlantic in the UK. So (if you haven't thought of this already by now) then get in touch with them via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FallenFruit or their Twitter https://twitter.com/FallenFruit

Aug 12 2012:
Start where Pam started, at the local council meetings, find out from your councils website when the next meeting is on and show up and share this idea, I have seen many town that are starting this with small plots in unused parking lots, but yes, you will most likely need council approval to modify existing public land.
If your having trouble achieving permission talk to your local newspaper to increase awareness. This is after all how a democracy is intended to work.
Be prepared to provide the initial costs yourself, unless you want to wait for a few years and a change in the budget. to save on zoning costs go to individual businesses and ask their permission to replant their gardens with crops.
Most importantly, Take Initiative! If no one in your community is doing it, then do it yourself.

Aug 12 2012:
Then you would be proposing the idea to the business itself not the community so any produce would still be the property of that business. Ideally you would want to engage both the public and private sectors to make it into a community wide plan.
Remember that individual costs decrease as quantities increase.
I would still take the idea to the council meetings because these are not just with the Councillors but also with other members of the public, and usually with the members who are active in the community and would love to jump on board.
Even if you go to the businesses first and use them as an example at the meeting (perhaps ask their permission first) to show that it works and is financially viable. What Pam didn't make to much mention over was the amount of volunteer work involved in getting projects like this up an running and also maintained.

Aug 31 2012:
Look on our website. Call us , email . You need not be alone , the world is tiny.
Time is not on our side act now. Don't think to much.
Good deeds from good hearts will not go unnoticed .
Read our 17 tips for activists.WWW.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk
Dream BIG
Mary

Aug 29 2012:
You have to move to a place where local folks are organized, and they believe in your ideas. I live in Cleveland, and you would be amazed at the number of urban gardens and community lots that are feeding low-income communities and allowing once impoverished neighborhoods to thrive. Did you ever hear of how Cleveland is attacking the problem of the food desert? Read it, google it, live it. We would welcome you and your sustainable ways of living!

Aug 12 2012:
in your own front yard, on your nature strip, in that unused bit of land that no-one wants to do anything with.....you just start. Thats the point....its not for just the influential. Remember if you eat, your in.!

Aug 12 2012:
Chandar you are brilliant, a star, yes being a guiding light is a cold and lonely place but don't give up. Perhaps a local school would like the surplus produce you have or a local chidren's hospice or orphanage. Sometimes you need to make the links of the chain but once it gets going other people will pinch the ideas you have. You probably won't get any credit for what you have done but if you believe in Karma you will get a huge reward. If not then just think what goes around comes around and you will be lving a long time and able to do so much good for people. Here in the U.K. there are various toasts along the lines of Health, Wealth and Wisdom or Health, Wisdom and Happiness. Yiou will note they all start with health.

Aug 12 2012:
Hi everyone. I live in the U.K. and am secretary for my local alllotment association. We have a piece of ground we have rented for over 50 years from the local council. It is divided into plots approx 5 rods or 25m2. We rent out the plots for an annual rent of £50 per year. We have so many retired and disabled people working up here. This year we are asking in the local community if there are any younger, able-bodied people who would like to join us. It is all-nations with people from India, the Caribbean, Brazil, Eastern Europe and I'm N.Z/G.B. We share ideas about the most appropriate ground cultivation, which crops to grow, how to manage when things go wrong. I am talking to my local Forum and some other people about possibly running an engineering project to harvest rainwater and generate some kind of electricity supply. We are next to a Primary School and they did have a fruit and veg co-op type stall for a while but if failed because Mums are buying from the supermarkets. Money is very tight at the moment so they are relying on school dinners (hence know about Jamie Oliver's iniitiative). On other threads have talked about intergenerational support and the school do encourage grandparents into the school to support the children in their learning. We have many single parent families here or migrrant families. Trying to support the community in building these links. As a child migrant myself know only too well the pain of lack of family support networks.

Aug 12 2012:
No, you cannot plant anywhere you want legally. For public spaces, you probably need to get permission from the Government agency that maintains the area (e.g. Parks and Rec). For private spaces, the owner's permission is required. All that said, groups known as Guerilla Gardeners plant illegally on neglected spaces: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_gardening.

Aug 13 2012:
Something to be careful of when guerilla gardening is not to plant edible foods in a site close to traffic, since fruit and vegetables tend to take up toxins from traffic fumes. The same probably applies to using water runoff from roads to water plants.

Sep 8 2012:
Love the idea, I would just be worried about some deranged teenager putting rat poisen on the food or something. Seems you just can't trust people as much nowadays and that is sad. Of course if you look at my profile you'll see that I live in Aurora, CO. I only live 15 minutes from that theater.

Sep 8 2012:
Loving the Incredible Edible Explosion. I love the image of an army of guerrilla gardening granddads going out in the morning with a wheelbarrow and replacing freshly harvested gaps in the raised beds with new crops, better than anti depressants. My point as a medical herbalist and permaculturist (herbaculture) is that if you think about medicinal herbs grown by and for the community it gives a whole new yield. Flowers, polination, medicine, flavouring, passion, and good to mix with the veg. Also many are perennial. Doing me best in north east of Suffolk.

Aug 16 2012:
Hi Derek and everyone else. Would urge you also to look at Koanga website www.koanga.org.uk. N.Z. community based organisation who have started a garden on an old municipal rubbish dump site. Very, very interesting project partly because of their views about converting energy into matter. I think you Derek might find this gives you a lot of ideas and I really want you to make something like this happen in realtime. You can approach the local 'great and good' as a group, once you have a project on the go and can show them you need some extra support to fully realise it. Politicians especially love a photo opportunity ! Love what Chander was saying about building his home on the principles of a termite mound and would love some further information about this. Anyway the Koanga website talks about the healing and nourishing properties of traditional diets. U.S.A. has a massive problem with keeping the population healthy because food is over processed and the lifestyle is so stressful. Do please take a look at their webesite www.koanga.org.uk.

Aug 17 2012:
If above not helpful try 'The Permaculture Research Institute of New Zealand' 'Koanaga' being a maori word. On home page is section 'Urban Design for a Sustainable Future'. As I said really interesting input about transforming urban landscapes for food production and also about what a truly healthy diet might contain (yes offal and raw meat are involved, not necessarily at the same time though just in case you don't like organ meats). By the way I don't think offal is meant to include intestine meat like tripe, which is great as tripe is vile.

Having a quick look at their website I see you can contact them via Twitter, sadly you've just missed their annual jam-making festival, they are setting up a coummunity fruit orchard however which sounds just the sort of thing you're after.

Aug 12 2012:
Water usage would most likely increase. That is the reason public buildings have those prickly plants, they are drought resistant and take very little water to maintain once established whereas crops take large amounts of both water and fertilizer.
The local council probably won't have room in the budget to accommodate these costs so it will need to be privately supported (either yourself, sponsorship's from local businesses that want to help "Go Green" or fundraising initiatives).
Not every area will be suited to all kinds of crops, ask around to find out which crops are best when. Don't rule out using hot houses if you live in cold environments.
Even if fruit and veg. are ruled out there may still be alternative produce that can live in your environment and within your water restrictions, although it may do to keep in mind that local farmers (who are probably feeling the pinch already) can be further impacted if the local town starts doing his job for free.

Aug 13 2012:
Rather than take away business from local farmers, I'd like to think that planting edible gardens would mean that more people learn the value of fresh food, change their eating habits, and support their local farms.